Set Up Business Organizations In Ethiopia

Set Up Business Organizations In Ethiopia

One-Stop-Shop: The EIA is a truly one-stop-shop for all foreign investment matters in Ethiopia. In this regard, the EIA :

· provides necessary information required by investors;
· receives investment applications;
· approves and issues investment permits to foreign investors;
· provides registration services to newly incorporated business organizations;
· approves expatriate posts in an approved investment and issues work permits to foreign employees;
· issues trade and operating license to approved foreign investment;
· facilitates the acquisition of land by foreign investors in accordance with the relevant laws of the federal and regional governments; and
· renders other pre-and post-investment approval services.

As a result of the appropriate measures taken by the Federal Government to organize EIA as a one-stop-shop for investors, cumbersome bureaucratic procedures faced by investors have been eliminated.

Companies incorporating in Ethiopia may operate through a subsidiary (i.e. incorporated under the Laws of Ethiopia) or through a branch (i.e. incorporated under the laws of a foreign country).

Ethiopian company law recognizes the commercial company in various forms. The most important types of business organizations are:

a) sole proprietorships;
b) branch offices of companies registered outside Ethiopia;
c) share companies;
d) private limited companies (PLC);
e) partnerships; and
f) co-operatives.

The most widely used forms of companies are limited liability companies or PLC’s which are formed in conformity with the requirements of the Commercial Code of Ethiopia of 1960..